ORGANIZATION 

Oakland Promise (OP) is a program for children and families who live and go to public schools in Oakland, CA with the mission of advancing equity and economic mobility through cradle-to-college and career. OP’s Vision is a thriving Oakland community without educational barriers to opportunity and as such, the organization offers every child the financial resources, support, mentorship, and incentives they need from birth and throughout their school years to seek out and thrive in the college and career of their choice. OP’s programs are targeted at critical transition points in a young person’s development and are designed to particularly support historically excluded and underserved youth. The organization offers College Savings Accounts, Oakland Promise Scholarships, guidance for students and caregivers, mentoring, and other critical resources to students and families in order to ensure that all Oakland public school students can access, persist and complete a certificate, two or four year degree - thus setting them up for career success. 

More than 1,000 Oakland families have received College Savings Accounts since 2017 through the organization’s Brilliant Baby program - the total value of these accounts held by families is now $664,000. In addition, 25,000 Kindergarteners have received $100 in their Oakland Promise Scholarship accounts, which can grow to more than $500 per student. In 2021, more than $2.2m in scholarships was awarded to 514 Oakland high school seniors. Over 67% of scholarship students were Black/Latinx and more than 83% were first generation college students. 79% of the inaugural Oakland Promise class (who graduated high school in 2016) have obtained a postsecondary degree or are on track to do so. With these successes, OP is on its way to fulfilling its promise that all young people in Oakland’s public schools have access to the college and career opportunities they need and deserve. 

The organization has an annual budget of $12m plus a quasi-endowment “Generation Fund” which is currently at $45.6m (of a goal of $50m to be raised by the end of this year). To learn more about Oakland Promise, please visit www.oaklandpromise.org. 

OPPORTUNITY

With the transition of CEO Mia Bonta this fall, the Oakland Promise board and team is looking to the next CEO to lead the organization into its next stage of impact, including: implementation of its five year strategic plan; continuing to hire and support an outstanding group of staff; secure the financial resources needed for the current budget and future aspirations; and build upon current partnerships to increase OP’s reach and impact. The successful CEO candidate will be: an experienced senior leader; someone with a familiarity with the local community and Oakland’s landscape; a compelling communicator; a strong strategic planner and systems thinker; an experienced fundraiser; an exceptional builder of team culture; ready to support and lead an anti-racist organization; and a results-driven manager who has demonstrated success for the initiatives and organizations under their leadership. This is an ideal opportunity for an impassioned social justice advocate who wants to make a significant impact on Oakland’s youth and families by transforming their college and career trajectory. 

RESPONSIBILITIES

Key Responsibilities of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) include:

• Organizational management and internal culture leadership: Building and maintaining strong management practices throughout the organization and ensuring all individuals are aligned around a joyful, productive and thriving internal culture guided by honesty, transparency, equity and accountability for individual and group performance.
• Leading the vision and “on the ground” execution of Oakland Promise’s vision for success: Ensuring that the organization’s programs, local partnerships and community engagement are highly effective and tightly aligned to the organization’s mission and impact goals. A piece of this is ensuring that OP provides a continuum of services to families from cradle to college to career. This also includes ensuring that Oakland Promise’s efforts demonstrate a deep commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion for all those with which the organization engages and has been created to serve.
• Ensuring financial sustainability and fiscal health: Partnering with the Board of Directors and funders to secure and allocate the resources and supports necessary to maintain the health of the organization and its programs. In addition, the CEO needs to build a high quality data and analytics infrastructure so that OP can tightly track its results and establish proof points that make the case for increased funding over time.
• Championing the vision of Oakland Promise in the broader community: Serving as a strong external ambassador for the organization with funders, policymakers, community leaders and partners like OUSD, other K-12 public school organizations and local higher education institutions. This includes building relationships with a wide array of stakeholders, navigating complex political relationships to ensure that OP is able to leverage and access potential legislation critical to its long-term sustainability.

   

PRIORITIES

A successful first year in this role for the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) will include:

• Leading against OP’s five year strategic plan by putting the organization on the path to ensure its programs are of consistently high quality and delivering on the promise of a continuum of services from cradle through college and career. This will mean developing criteria for quality and the methodology of tracking it while also ensuring the organization has the appropriate touch points with families and youth at each growth stage.
• Achieving OP’s fundraising goals and building enduring relationships with existing and new major donors, including an increase in corporate and institutional funders and ensuring the maintenance of a well-diversified portfolio.
• Improving OP’s stature and positioning in the Oakland community by building stronger brand recognition, positive public perception and a city-wide understanding of the important impact of OP’s programs and services.
• Strengthening the partnership between OP and local early childhood programs as well as K-16 systems, with particular focus on the relationship with OUSD, so that the institutions and their programs are closely integrated. In practice, this would include a seamless continuum of services, strong relationships at every level of the systems, aligned goals on metrics and tightly coordinated messaging to students, families, policymakers, funders and the broader community.
• Inspiring and motivating OP’s senior leadership, staff, board members and local champions by leading with joy, humility, and an equity-minded approach.

QUALIFICATIONS 

In order to fulfill these responsibilities, the ideal Chief Executive Officer (CEO) candidate will be:

• An accomplished public sector leader with a minimum of 10+ years senior management experience and demonstrated success in hiring, supervising and developing those who work for them.
• A passionate and inspiring advocate for all students, families and community members who is connected to the local community, is excited to serve as the external face of the Oakland Promise and inspires others to engage in OP’s work.
• Culturally competent and a self-reflective leader who understands the effects of race, class, ethnicity, income, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, and other issues of difference in society and is able to lead direct conversations about them.
• A builder of authentic relationships with community partners, policymakers, funders and other supporters, able to engage with a variety of individuals and speaks in a clear and compelling manner about the organization’s goals and priorities.
• An experienced fundraiser with a track-record of meeting (or surpassing) ambitious revenue goals over a sustained period.
• Strong in strategic planning, project management, and data analysis; able to focus on big picture priorities while not losing sight of the details.
• Skilled in navigating politics, knowing how and when to leverage the influence of Oakland Promise’s leaders and supporters to advocate on behalf of Oakland’s youth.
• Knowledgeable about early childhood programs, K-16 school systems and educational service organizations so that they can effectively partner with these institutions in service of students’ needs. 

   

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

This position offers a competitive salary range and robust benefits. More details can be provided upon request.

TO APPLY

Please submit a resume online at https://apply.workable.com/j/506EB226FB. For additional questions about this position or to speak with someone about your interest, please contact Serena Moy at smoy@edgilityconsulting.com or at 510.575.9635.

Oakland Promise is an equal opportunity employer and an organization that values diversity. Recruiting staff to create an inclusive organization is a priority, and we encourage applicants from all backgrounds. Candidates are evaluated solely on their qualifications to perform the work required.